It's Always Easy
by xxxwhateverxxx
Summary: Everything he's running towards she's running away from. Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures. Romance.
1. Chapter 1

_July 12__th__, 2010_

If Rue had known he would be here, she would've gone out of town. _I don't want to face him, I don't want to face his friends. Why did he have to be in the same damn hotel she was in? _Rue thought angrily as she began shoving clothes hurriedly into her suitcase.

Rue was sure there was no haunted commercial places in Rhode Island. But sleazy, cheap guidos always seem to find them.

She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair._ God, thank goodness I'd overheard the maid talking to the manager._

"_They're coming they really are! I'm serious! The Ghost Adventures crew from Travel Channel! Can you believe it? Assign me Zak's room!"_

Zak. The last person on this earth that Rue wanted to see. After five years, all these five years, Rue had managed to avoid him, managed to avoid every friggen Ghost Adventures ad, show or tweet.

But here he was, coming to this hotel. Coming to the hotel she'd been living at for a while now. Anger rose up in her throat, making her want to spit.

_I'll just rent some place outside of town and come back when they're finished filming._

Rue grabbed her suitcase and snapped it shut angrily. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful day for high tailing it out of a hotel before your ex comes.

Grabbing the hotel phone, she dialed the manager's office and left a message, "I'll be out of town for two weeks, please keep my room. This is Rue Veranda, room 319, my number is 1-567-879-4390."

It'd been pretty obvious Rue had wanted to live in this hotel, it was so lavish, she'd met so many famous people passing through. She was confident they'd save my room.

Everything was clean and orderly, there was no trace she'd been there. Rue grabbed her suitcase's and exited the room. If all went well, she'd be back in two weeks.

_If I couldn't get a room elsewhere, I'd call my friend Trish, and stay there. _

_You're sort of stupid, leaving like this just because of him. _an inner voice spoke up at the worst of times.

_Do you want him to find out where you are? Do you want him to antagonize you again? Do you really, really want to tempt yourself? _another inner voice reasoned.

No, Rue really, really didn't want to tempt herself.

_July 15__th__, 2010 _

Zak surveyed his new hotel room. It had been a long flight to Rhode Island, and he had jet lag. Nick and Aaron were checking out their rooms, they had agreed to take a three hour break from each other and meet up later.

They all needed time to re-group, time to get back into the Ghost Adventures state of mind. He put on his glasses and sat down at a desk and began flipping through _Van Halsen's Dracula. _

It was his favorite book, he'd read it thirteen hundred times, he could never quite put it down. This time though, he had taken a break from the book. It had reminded him of a very painful break up for a while but… he opened the book and began to read.

Just then a bookmark fell out of one of the last pages. A picture of a girl.

_Rue._

She had long, black hair and big, beautiful blue eyes. She was slim, short and petite, very delicately boned. She was smiling a huge smile and her arms were around a younger version of Zak Bagans, he was smiling too. He'd loved her, once.

Zak tore the picture up slowly and threw the picture on the ground. There was no time for thinking about Rue, he had to focus. Focus on his career.

Just then his cell phone rang. It was Nick.

"What room are you in bro? We'll meet you in three hours, Aaron and I are right next to each other but we don't know where you…"

"319," Zak answered shortly, he wanted to get back to … whatever he was doing. "See you in three." he snapped the phone shut.

He also snapped the Dracula book shut with a sigh. He reached into his open suitcase by the floor and pulled out the file to the place they were going to investigate.

Zak read for a while, then the jet lag caught up to him. He shut the file and wandered over to the bed. It was extravagant, he realized, with silk pillows and cases, and tons of room to move around. _Honey moon suite. _He cursed silently.

Falling onto the bed he threw his glasses on the nightstand and closed his eyes. Something smelled on the pillow cases. It smelled like… a perfume. A perfume of what? He couldn't remember, but it smelled so familiar. All he could remember was he once buried himself in it.


	2. Chapter 2

_July 17__th__, 2011 7:23 PM _

"Trish!" Rue called from the dining room, "I left something at my hotel!"

She'd left her music portfolio in the desk drawer. Now she'd have to go back. Rue grimaced as she remembered going straight to Trish after leaving the hotel and telling her everything. Trish had insisted she had stayed with her, so she had.

She really shouldn't have let Rue stay with her, not when Rue was biting her nails so much.

Trish appeared around the corner from her kitchen and put her hands on her hips. She was a stocky woman, with blonde hair and bright, green eyes, "Do you want me to go get it?" she sounded strained.

"No, no. No. I'll go get it." Rue said hurriedly. Not only did she not want to anger Trish, she was looking for an excuse to go out anyway. "I'll sneak in, trust me, they'll be out or something."

They. Trish knew what she was talking about.

Trish sighed and waved her hands in the air, "Alright Ruth."

"Rue," Rue answered back, "I'm not that old yet!"

Trish smiled broadly, "Twenty six is pushing it."

Rue smiled back, perhaps she _was _getting older.

Grabbing her purse off one of the chairs she waved goodbye to Trish and raced to the front door. She felt a twinge of nervousness and apprehension in her stomach.

_I'll be fast. _

Her heart had been hammering the whole entire drive to the hotel, it had been hammering the whole entire walk to her room. The whole entire elevator ride. Her nails were bleeding slightly, she'd bitten them so much.

Now she stood at her door, 319. Luckily for her, she had a spare key card, it was in her purse. She rummaged for it and felt a rush when it was accepted.

When she stepped into her room the lights were off. She turned them on. It looked fairly normal, though the bed looked like it had been slept in. And there was a big, black box in the corner of the room. Several of them.

_It's just the maids. _She told herself. No one had taken her room. The maids were known for leaving their job half finished and coming back hours later. It was the quirk of the Kennedy Hotel.

Rue tiptoed over (why the hell was she tiptoeing? It was her room, after all!) to the desk and opened the drawer. There it was, her portfolio. She picked up the slender white binder and slipped into her over sized purse.

Something sticking out of the closet caught her eye. She raced over to the closet and saw that it was a shirt. A black t shirt. One of hers, maybe?

Without opening the closet she yanked it out and stumbled back. Yes, of course, she realized, it was one of her black t-shirts, the kind she slept in.

She'd always been small and petite, sleeping in men's t shirts had just been more cost effective. Screw the lace and lingerie.

Though it smelled oddly different. Like cologne.

Confused, Rue ran over to her bathroom to try the t-shirt on. If it wasn't hers, she'd know right away. She clicked the door shut and took off her shirt, revealing her pink bra.

She slipped her pants off too, for good measure. Rue knew she had told Trish she'd be back soon, but she sort-of missed her old room, maybe she'd stay and watch some TV. Now that she was safely locked in, she didn't feel like she'd run into…unpleasant people.

Rue reached for the black t-shirt , only to find it had slipped off the hanger outside of the bathroom.

_Oh, shoot it. _she sighed and opened up her bathroom in her lingerie. It wasn't like anyone would see it.

Walking out towards the fallen clothing piece, that had fallen just short of the bathroom, she slipped it on and sighed. It didn't feel right. Rue had always had a knack for knowing when she wasn't wearing her clothes.

The t-shirt covered her knees, far too long.

Just then the door opened, Rue tensed, her stomach lurched. What would the maids think? Sadly, it wasn't the maids.

No, it was someone much, much worse. It was Zak Bagans, wearing those stupid glasses he seemed to love so much. Zak Bagans, in an oversized sweater and long, black pants.

He looked older, more muscular, too. And suddenly Rue realized who's shirt she was wearing.

There was a strange woman in his room. She was wearing his t-shirt. _His_ t-shirt. She was staring at him with big, blue doe-eyes. Her mouth hung open.

It took him a minute to comprehend the situation. That's when he realized this situation was incomprehensible. Had he had too many beers? Was he hallucinating?

Well, his hallucination spoke. "Stop staring at me!" it snapped.

"Who the hell are you?" was all that came out of his smooth mouth.

"You know very well who I am." the hallucination trembled.

No, he really didn't. Though she looked sort-of familiar.

She seemed to see that he wasn't going to think this one out on his one. "I'm Rue!" she screamed.

_Rue. _

Suddenly it all connected. The beautiful face, the big, blue eyes. _Of course! But… what? _Zak wasn't sure how to handle the situation. He'd always been smooth with the ladies, but with Rue, it had been different. Especially the Rue-wearing-his-t-shirt-in-his-room-five-years-later. "Rue, what are you doing in my room?" he finally settled on saying.

Her knees were trembling. God, she was gorgeous. Why had they broken up again?

"Because… this is my room." she stared at him curiously, straightening up. "I left it because… you were here."

"Avoiding me like always." Zak smirked, the old flame of argument between them coming back up.

Rue shrugged. "When a woman lets a man share her bed, and he still sleeps with other -"

"Alright, alright." Zak threw his hands up, he didn't want to get into that. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"I told you, this is _my_ room." Rue insisted. "I came back because I needed something."

Zak raised his eyebrows. Sure. "Do you want to stay?" he asked. Maybe he could get in her pants. That's all he really wanted right now anyway. To get in someone's pants.

"You mean stay here with you, drink champagne, get drunk and have sex?" Rue said in a trembling voice, "No, Zak, those days are over." she disappeared into his bathroom and came out with some clothes.

She slipped off his t-shirt in front of him and threw it on the ground. It took him a minute to register she was standing in front of him with just her lingerie on, but by the time he realized it, she was already putting clothes on again. _Damn. _

Fully dressed, she walked towards him, "I'll call the hotel tomorrow and sort this mess out." she stopped in front of him and looked him the eye, "Goodbye, Zachary."

"Wait, Rue," Zak grabbed her by the shoulders as she tried to brush past him. He didn't her want to leave. Even if he couldn't get in her pants. He wanted her to stay.

Rue tried to shake him off, but he swiveled her body so it was up against his. Her head only came up to his chest, he could feel her collarbone pressed against his thumb. He ran it down the length of the bone and up her neck. Rue used to love when he did that, but she only looked at him angrily. "It's over." she said.

He knew that. He had given her up for days of womanizing single-ness and paranormal investigating. But she was here. In his room. How could he allow her to leave?

Yet somehow, she got out of his arms and walked away. Again.

"Fuck." Zak swore and slammed his door shut. "Fuck" he said again, for good measure. "God-Damn." he told himself. He swore when he was angry. This was going to fuck up his lockdown. This was going to fuck up everything. He flipped his phone open and dialed Aaron's number. They'd go out drinking tonight, he wanted to get drunk.

Tomorrow he'd have a fabulous hangover, and the day after that, he'd be in front of the cameras. He'd have to play Zak Bagans, lead investigator of the popular series _Ghost Adventures. _


End file.
